Lady Gaga Remembers Aunt Joanne on the Anniversary of Her Passing

Lady Gaga honored the memory of her dearly departed aunt in a genuine tribute.

On Monday (December 18), the "Cure" singer turned to social media to memorialize her late aunt, Joanne Stefani Germanotta, who passed to lupus complications in 1974. This year signals the 43rd anniversary of her life.

“Today is the anniversary of my father’s sister Joanne’s passing. 12-18-1974,” Gaga shares within a dashing monochrome image of her beside English musician Mark Ronson, who helped co-write and executive produce the musician's fifth studio album, Joanne, the record written in remembrance of her late relative.

"It also happens to be our last #JoanneWorldTour date playing North America," she continued. "I’m very sentimental [Mark Ronson] who I wrote Joanne with will be here, in the audience and on stage. #Joanne #LupusAwareness."

Germanotta, an artist in her own right, died at 19 to difficulties related to the autoimmune disease and has since become a singular role model for the American Horror Story: Hotel actress.

"Joanne, for me, was about writing an album that is about something much bigger than myself. It's about my connection to my family, my connection to my friends, my self-awareness of who I am in this world and what I wish to be," the performer told On Air With Ryan Seacrestin an October 2016 interview.

"I went into the studio and I erased my fame to write, and I said, 'I'm going to become Joanne. I'm going to take on the sentiment of a woman that didn't live the rest of her life.'"